A call screening service, commonly known as “Caller I.D.” has gained wide scale utilization amongst present-day telephone users. Caller I.D. is a service provided to the telephone user by the telephone service provider. Typically, the service provider supplies the user with information from the service provider's subscriber database. The information typically includes the telephone number of the telephone a caller is calling from and the subscriber name documented to that number. The data base information is delivered to the user concurrent to the user's telephone being rung and is provided on a display for the user to read. Subsequently, the user reviews the information provided and determines whether or not he desires to answer the call.
Present-day Caller I. D. exhibits two notable shortcomings. As the first shortcoming, very often the caller is someone other than the subscriber name documented to the calling telephone. Consequently, the user can never be certain who is actually calling. Conversely, a caller wishing to avoid screening need only place his call from some telephone other than one of which he is the documented subscriber, such as a pay telephone or someone else's telephone. As the second shortcoming, the user is subject to perpetually paying a monthly fee to the service provider in order to receive the Caller I.D. service.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,111 to Serbetcioglu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,053 to Mitchell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,902 5,796,806 to Birckbichler and U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,435 to Devillier and suggest ways and means to receive information from the actual caller and deliver that information to the user. This information when delivered thus provides the user with the true identity of the caller rather than merely the subscriber and number registered to the calling telephone. Accordingly, these references alleviate the above described first shortcoming of Caller I.D. However, as with Caller I.D., these references suggest their service be provided to the user by the telephone service provider. In other words, these services retain the above-described second shortcoming of Caller I.D., that is, the user perpetually paying a monthly fee to the service provider.
Common-day telephone “answering machines” alleviate the two described shortcomings of Caller I.D. Firstly, the call-screening feature of answering machines supplies the user with the actual voice of the actual caller, enabling the user to positively determine the true identity of the actual caller. Secondly, because answering machines reside as property of the user, no monthly fee need ever be paid to the telephone service provider.
Answering machines employ answering circuitry to answer a telephone call incoming from the service provider and to attain information from the caller. Answering machines include a delay, an information recorder and an information signal provider. The delay postpones the machine's answering of the call, allowing the user's telephone to first ring for a prescribed length of time. Thus the user is afforded the opportunity to answer the call if they so desire.
Upon answering a call, answering machines communicate a message to the caller, such as “Please leave a message”. If the caller leaves a message, that message is received by the answering circuitry and forwarded to the information recorder where it is recorded. At the same time the message is also forwarded to the information signal provider. The signal provider then forwards what is a live audio signal to a loudspeaker. The live audio signal operates the loudspeaker and, so, the caller's message can be heard out of the loudspeaker as the caller leaves the message. Upon listening to the caller leave the message (screening the call), the user positively identifies the caller's voice and thus determines the caller's true identity. Accordingly, if the user decides he cares to talk with this particular caller, the answering machine provides that the user can answer the call by answering his telephone.
Unfortunately, caller identification via the message-screening feature of answering machines is accomplished as a by-product of recording a message from the caller. Consequently, the effectiveness is greatly compromised. For instance, with answering machine message screening, often times the caller simply chooses not to leave a message and, thus, the user is not afforded the opportunity to screen and potentially answer the call. As a further compromise, when the user decides to answer a call being screened, the answering constitutes an abrupt/rude cut-in to the caller's leaving of a message.